Neuromancer Lesson Plan

Compared to, say, Star Trek's idealized version of the future, how does Neuromancer's cyberpunk setting represent a more cynical view of the day after tomorrow?

Compared with most earlier science fiction, which depicted the future as a potential space for optimistic advancement in technology and quality of life, Gibson’s version of the future is much darker. In Chiba City, crime thrives; underground fight clubs, violence, gangs, mafia, and drugs dominate the urban landscape. Part of the pessimism presented in Neuromancer stems from the novel’s focus on altered perception of reality.

We are first introduced to Case as he laments his loss of access to the matrix, which...